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News & Stories

Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) frequently publishes updates, press releases, and other forms of communication about its work in more than 60 countries around the world. See the list below for the most recent updates or search by location, topic, or year.

Year

In October, the Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) Kunduz trauma center in Afghanistan was targeted by US airstrikes, which resulted in the deaths of 14 staff, 24 patients and four patient caretakers. Over one million people in northeastern Afghanistan remain deprived of high-quality surgical care as a result.

Our thoughts go out to the friends and families of those who died. We also remember our colleagues who tragically lost their lives this year in a helicopter crash in Nepal and our colleague who was killed in the Central African Republic (CAR). We take this opportunity as well to tell Philippe, Richard and Romy, our staff who are still missing in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), that they are not forgotten.

It’s been a year of unprecedented humanitarian emergencies. From ongoing conflicts in Yemen and Central African Republic to the refugee crises and Ebola epidemic, we were there providing medical humanitarian aid on the front lines of conflict and disaster.

Capturing the full scope and impact of even a single MSF project in 140 characters is impossible. But taken together, these tweeted photos, videos, and first-hand accounts paint a human picture of our patient and staff experiences, from the joyful moments to the greatest challenges.

A measles epidemic has been raging since the beginning of 2015 in the region of Katanga in southeast Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). According to the Ministry of Public Health, as of November 20, 2015, a total of 39,619 cases—resulting in 474 deaths—had been officially reported in Katanga.

Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) teams have managed to deliver urgently needed aid to thousands of people in the Syrian city of Aleppo, which is now going through its fifth winter of civil war. In partnership with the Aleppo City Local Council, 5,200 kits, including essential winter and hygiene items for displaced families, were handed out in the first weeks of December.

Elyse Aichatou is a nurse. Having left midwifery school in 2005, she was recruited by Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) to help treat malnourished children after her home country, Niger, was hit by an extremely serious nutritional crisis. For 10 years, Elyse has continued her work at MSF’s nutritional centers in southern Niger.

In 2005, an innovative strategy that moved the treatment of severe acute malnutrition out of hospitals was widely expanded for the first time in Niger, and a record number of children were able to receive care. Ten years later, a public health approach to preventing child mortality has been launched, combining the fight against malnutrition with the prevention of other deadly childhood diseases.

Celine Langlois served as the emergency medical coordinator for Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) for five months in Yemen. She was astonished by people’s ability to get on with daily life amidst airstrikes and a desperate fuel and water crisis.